Democrats may resign from House Select Committee on Benghazi after Hillary Clinton testifies Thursday at a high-profile public hearing, according to a top Democrat on the panel.
“That, I think, is going to be a matter of our discussion after the hearing this week: How much longer does it make sense for us to continue to participate?” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told Reuters in an interview published Tuesday.
Schiff said Democrats’ presence would ensure that the panel’s Republican members give Clinton a fair hearing, but added that it was a double-edged sword.
“At the same time, you know, we lend legitimacy, by being there, to a committee that really has none,” he told Reuters.
Last month, Schiff called for the Benghazi committee to be disbanded in a New York Times op-ed that argued the panel had become “little more than a partisan tool to influence the presidential race.” Since he wrote that op-ed, two Republican congressman and a former GOP staffer for the committee have suggested that the panel targeted Clinton. Those comments gave the committees’ Democrats plenty of ammunition to go after Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and cast doubt on the panel’s credibility ahead of its high-stakes grilling of the Democratic presidential frontrunner.
